Nambu Type 4
(Type A) (Type B) |barrel= (Type A) (Type B) |weight= (Type A) (Type B) |justweight= |height= |magazine=8 rounds (Type A) 7 rounds (Type B) |cycle= |range= |velocity= |usedby=}}The Nambu Type 4 (南部大型自動拳銃 Nambu-ōgata Jidō Kenjū, "Nambu Large Automatic Pistol") was a Japanese pistol designed by Kijirō Nambu. It was the first indigenously-produced self-loading pistol in Japan, and was used by the Imperial Japanese Army in the early 20th century. History The Type 4 was initially designed by Captain Kijirō Nambu in 1902, and was influenced by German guns of the period, such as the Luger and Mauser C96. It received interest from the Imperial Japanese Army, who examined prototypes in 1904 before ultimately granting it their approval. Production was set up two years later at the state-owned Koishikawa Arsenal in Tokyo. Despite this, it was never actually officially adopted by the IJA - rather, officers were simply encouraged to buy their own, as the Japanese Army at the time did not standardize sidearms for COs and NCOs. The first models were known as the Type A, or "Grandpa Nambu". Early criticism of the design soon emerged from officers who felt the gun was too large and uncomfortable, so a smaller, more compact model known as the Type A Modified, or "Papa Nambu", was produced. In 1909 Nambu introduced a miniature model called the Type B, often referred to as the "Baby Nambu". The Type B was chambered in a smaller bottle-necked cartridge, 7×20mm Nambu, and was produced initially at Koishikawa Arsenal. This new cartridge was even weaker than the already-underpowered 8×22mm round used by the Type A, and was generally only effective at very close ranges. The low power and comparatively high cost of the Nambu pistols led to some officers opting to import European pistols instead, although Nambus remained the most popular pistols of choice. The Imperial Japanese Navy officially adopted the Type A in 1915. However, production of the pistol at Koishikawa was coming along slowly and could not satisfy the Navy's demand, so instead they contracted a private company, Tokyo Gasu Denki KK (Tokyo Gas & Electric Co.), who from then on handled the production of the majority of Type A and Type B pistols. Tokyo Gasu Denki offered both guns for export, although international sales were few and the bulk went to the Japanese Navy. Export models were marked with "GTD" in Latin script rather than Japanese. Both Type A and Type B pistols were carried by Japanese officers during World War I, and in the early 1920s an order of Type A pistols was placed by the Siamese Army. In 1925, Nagoya Arsenal developed a smaller, cheaper, and simpler version of the Type 4 called the Type 14, which became the standard service pistol of the Imperial Japanese Army. As a result, the Type A became obsolete and production at Koishikawa was discontinued in 1927. Tokyo Gasu Denki kept producing the gun until 1930. The Type B ceased production in 1931. Although the Type 4 pistol was generally phased out of service by the new Type 14, it continued to see limited use during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. Design The Type 4 was a locked breech, recoil-operated pistol. The force of the recoil upon firing knocked the barrel, receiver, and bolt backwards, and the movement of the receiver unlocked the breech block and allowed a new round to be chambered. The bolt was a solid piece that protruded from the rear end of the pistol. The user pulled the bolt backward in order to cock the weapon. Unusually, the Nambu's recoil spring ran down the left side of the bolt only. The design suffered from a notable deficiency in that the striker spring would wear down very quickly, ensuring that it needed to be replaced often if the pistol saw extensive usage. The Type A model featured a rear tangent sight that could be set for up to 100m; given the short effective range of the gun, this feature was not particularly useful and was dropped with the Type B model, which replaced it with a basic fixed rear sight. A detachable wooden stock was also developed for the Type A on the request of the Navy, although only about 2,000 stocked models were ever produced. The magazine utilized a unique design whereupon after the last shot was fired, the magazine follower would intentionally jam the breech open to signify that the gun was empty. Category:Pistols